Trinity Episcopal Church – Alicemary Iyoho – 2011

Goals

Alicemary Iyoho spent her summer as an EDF Climate Corps fellow at Trinity Episcopal Church (TEC) in Asheville, North Carolina. Listed in the National Register of Historical Places, the church has experienced increasing energy use and costs due to higher activity and greater interest in preserving the historical value of the church.

Solutions

Trinity carried out some lighting and HVAC upgrades on its own, but needed Iyoho to identify additional energy efficiency projects. Iyoho analyzed the church’s utility bill and realized savings could be found from switching rate structures to small general time-of-use. This simple, cost-free change in rate structure could save the church over $1,000 every year. Another of Iyoho’s projects focused on replacing non-programmable thermostats with programmable ones; the payback period is six months.

Potential Impact

If Iyoho’s proposed energy efficiency projects are implemented, Trinity Episcopal Church could save over $5,700 in annual energy costs and cut carbon emissions by 66 metric tons each year.